OVERVIEW

Related Stories

A 2 p.m. ceremony at Ivor Wynne – which will be demolished after the Ticats finish their season – delivered the first view of how the new facility will look.

T02015 says there will be 22,500 permanent seats with the ability to add 17,500 seats to handle Grey Cup-sized crowds. (That's more than the 10,000 temporary seats Infrastructure Ontario announced to councillors this morning). Hamiton's new stadium will be smaller than Ivor Wynne, have fewer parking spots, and cost millions less to build than expected.

Final stadium funding breakdown: $54.1 million from city, $22.3 million from province, $69.1 million from Ottawa.

There was a sense of resignation and frustration around the council table this morning as officials from Infrastructure Ontario presented some of the details of the new stadium. It will have 22,500 seats (compared to Ivor Wynne's 30,000) and 180 parking spots (compared to the 400 currently available at the Cannon Street stadium).

While Councillors said they were pleased to have a new stadium, as Lloyd Ferguson said, there are "dark clouds" over the process.

The winning bidders for the stadium build, a consortium called Ontario Sports Solutions, includes Bouygues Building Canada Inc. and Kenaidan Contracting Ltd. The full details aren't being released until a press conference at Ivor Wynne at 2 p.m. today.

The construction costs for Hamilton's Pan Am stadium will be $119.1 million, less than the $145 million budget. However, city staff say that "soft costs" like contingence funds and architects will eat up the remaining $35 million.

As expected, the stadium is being reoriented north-south, will meet all requirements for both FIFA soccer and CFL football games, and have 22,500 seats with provisions for temporary seating for 10,000 people for future Grey Cup Games.

However, the Grey Cup requires at least 40,000 seats.

Councillors asked pointed questions at the meeting about why the construction agency is still keeping key details of the stadium design a secret.

"Unless councillors are available at 2 o'clock, we're completely shut out of understanding the layout and the details of the new stadium," said Councillor Terry Whitehead.

It will take about 400 workers to build Hamilton's stadium. McKendrick said though the subcontracts have yet to be handed out, he would assume that Hamilton's unions will be involved in the constructions.

"Hamilton has a highly skilled and highly unionized workforce," he said. "They've got a schedule to meet here. They can't meet it with unskilled labour."

What do you think of the stadium plan? Please comment below. We may republish a selection in Saturday’s Spectator.